VANESSA'S POV
The peaceful hum of the pack bond shattered into a thousand shards of panic and fear. The silent scream of the two missing warriors-Silas and Cora-echoed not through sound, but through the terrifying void they left in the fabric of our connectedness. It was a wound in the pack's soul.
Adrien was a blur of motion, his Alpha persona slamming into place like a suit of armor. His voice, cold and sharp as a blade, cut through the rising panic in the mindlink, issuing orders with a brutal clarity that brooked no argument.
"All patrols, pull back to the inner perimeter! No one crosses the border alone! Gamma, lock down the nursery and the elder's wing. Beta, with me. Now."
He turned to me, his eyes holding a storm. "Nessa, with Nolan. See if you can... feel anything else. Anythi
